Morning after pill now available online

Women can now purchase the morning after pill online so that they can keep an emergency supply at home or when they go travelling.

The morning after pill used to only be available from a doctor after a woman had engaged in unprotected sex.

Lloyds Pharmacy has now become the first major healthcare brand to offer emergency contraception in advance of need.

The pills can be obtained in packs of one, two or three doses, costing £27.99, £51.98 and £74.87 respectively.

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Clare Kerr, head of clinical services at the pharmacy, noted that time is of the essence when taking the morning after pill.

It is up to 95 per cent effective when taken 24 hours after sex, falling to 85 per cent in the following 24 hours and 58 per cent in the next 24 hours.

'We hope that our new service will go some way to reducing the number of unplanned pregnancies and will help alleviate some of the anxiety women feel after they've had unprotected sex or a condom has split,' she explained.

Dr Peter Saunders, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, described the move as 'extraordinary'.

He told the Sunday Telegraph: 'If you think that there's the option of emergency contraception, it will encourage you to have unprotected sex and that will fuel the epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases and cervical cancer.'

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